General Tips for Preparing USCIS Immigration Forms

About me: I am a US citizen who sponsored his wife for a green card and am in the middle of naturalizing her to become a citizen. The following article is based on my experiences only.

Immigration forms like the I-130, I485, I-751, and the N-400 are needed when applying for a family member to receive a green card and later citizenship through naturalization. I have filled out each of these forms as the sponsor for my wife’s green card and have learned some things along the way. Here, I share some general tips that I hope can help you in your own journey!

Relax.

First and foremost, if your relationship is real and genuine, then relax, you have nothing to worry about. When you first start the process, it seems impossible: dozens of pages of instructions, endless forms and paperwork to obtain, interviews, biometrics, and years and years of waiting. For many people, the work to put together these packages is stressful, and once you send it in, waiting on an USCIS decision (usually takes months and sometimes years) is even worse. Why haven’t they sent anything? Why hasn’t my interview been scheduled? Why is it taking so long?

Relax. Take a deep breath. If the paperwork seems too much, then take a break and come back to it later. If you’ve sent everything in already and you’ve received the acknowledgement receipt, then USCIS has it and all you can do is wait. Deal with the applications in little chunks and keep your expectations realistic on how long it will take for a decision and your mental state (as well as your marriage!) will be better off.

Decide who will take charge on the applications.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of forms and documents to obtain for each of these applications. Thankfully, the USCIS maintains detailed instructions on how to fill out every form. The bad news is that these instructions are so detailed and worded so strangely that it can get even more confusing!

Before you start to tackle the applications, decide who will put together the packages. Ideally, it should be the person between you that is more organized, more responsible, and better at English. There are a lot of instructions, a lot of forms to gather, and very unforgiving deadlines, so whoever is just flat out better at getting stuff like this done should be the person to handle the application.

It’s not that bad – regular people can do it. However, if neither of you think you can handle it, and you have the money, then you may want to seek professional help like an immigration lawyer. You may also consider asking a responsible family member or friend. Keep in mind though, is that if someone else prepares these forms for you, you must declare that in the forms – each form has a section to fill out if someone else did it for you.

The instructions are your friend. And also your enemy.

For each form, the USCIS has very detailed, and long, instructions. One reason that it is so long is that they must cover all sorts of immigration situations. You yourself will only be concerned with your own situation. Everything else can only confuse you. Make things easier by focusing only on what applies to you!

Print out two copies of the instructions. On the first copy, grab a highlighter, and read through it carefully and highlight everything that DOES apply to you. Read it again, and make sure. And then read it again. On the second copy, use a pen or pencil, and read through it carefully, and cross out anything that DOESN’T apply to you. Read it two more times.

Now, take your two copies, one has highlighted parts that apply to you, and the other has crossed out parts that don’t apply to you. Compare them. Make sure everything is either highlighted or crossed out. If something is both highlighted and crossed out then you screwed up somewhere. Resolve everything before proceeding.

Now that you know what instructions apply to you, take out a piece of paper, and read through the highlighted portions again. This time, make a list of things that you need to do and documents that you need to get for your applications, according to the instructions. Your list should look something like this:

1) Check for $485

2) Two passport type photos for me

3) Two passport type photos for my wife

4) Marriage license

5) My proof of citizenship (photocopy of my US passport and birth certificate)

6) You get my point.

Once you’re organized and know what you need to do, go and do it!

Send copies, but while you’re at it, make a few more for yourself.

The instructions are very clear on this, but only send original documents if the instructions say so. Otherwise, photocopies are perfectly fine. Since you have to spend time at a copier to make copies of your documents, make another copy for your records. In fact, most forms ask for the same documents over and over again, so if you want to save time later in the process, make a few copies of your documents (like marriage license and passport, every form seems to ask for those).

This one I learned the hard way. The first form I filled out, the I-130, asked for my marriage license. I got a certified copy from my town, and sent it off to USCIS. Wouldn’t you know it, once we had to do the next form, there it was again, asking us for the marriage license, so we had to go back to the town and get more certified copies. You better believe from then on I just made copies of everything.

Do the I-130 and the I-485 forms together.

This was my experience only, but based on conversations with friends and online research, things are much faster if you submit the I-130 and the I-485 together. At the time, we only submitted the I-130 because we didn’t have enough money for the I-485 fee. I thought that once we got approval on the I-130 I’d send the I-485 in. Many months passed without any decision on the I-130 and so I decided to send the I-485 in. Immediately after the I-485 was received, our decision came through. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but all of my friends who have done the green card sponsorship put the I-485 with the I-130 and they all got their interview notices much faster than we did.

If you have the money for both fees, and the time to do them together, then I’d recommend it.

Write a letter, explaining what’s in your package, and explaining what isn’t in your package and why.

There’s a lot of documentation and proof that you need to send, especially if you’re applying based on marriage. Why? Well, they want to make sure that your marriage isn’t a fake one in order to get someone a green card. In general, you should just send everything that you can to prove that your marriage is genuine. Write a letter that lists what documents you have provided, and how each item shows that your life is truly combined. If you DO NOT have something that’s commonly used to establish marriage (maybe you don’t have joint accounts because one person doesn’t work, or maybe your rent/mortgage isn’t shared because one person has bad credit), then you should include that explanation in your letter as well.

Photos. (1)

You will need passport style photos of the two of you. Most forms ask for two each. I do not recommend getting a bunch at the beginning and using the same ones for every form because the forms will be done over several years and your appearance should change over that time. I would get the pictures for each form at the time that you submit them.

Most drug stores (CVS, Walgreens, etc), and Costco, have services for these types of photos. They are trained on the requirements and you can get them done in a few minutes. The forms say that you can’t use the little wallet pictures you can take in the mall kiosks, but I actually did this once (I was in the mall for something else, saw the picture kiosk, and tried it. It looked okay, I sent it in, and it wasn’t a problem). To be safe though even though it costs a bit more, I recommend going to a place like CVS or Costco.

Photos. (2)

One type of evidence to establish a bona fide marriage is photos of the two of you, ideally spread out over time and in several locations and events.

CAUTION: Do not submit the pictures on a CD or other electronic media. USCIS cannot put electronic media into their computers due to the risk of contamination. You must provide printed pictures. Most department stores (Target, CVS, etc) now have self-serve kiosks where you can put in all sorts of media (CD, flash, etc) and print your photos for a small fee.

For each photo, on the back, write the date that the photo was taken and the event. Something like “Friend’s wedding, 6/1/11” or “Aruba Vacation, 3/14/12”. This helps your case officer see that the pictures were taken over time and at many places.

Send your application package through certified mail.

You’ve taken all that time to put together an awesome application package, and now you actually have to send it in the mail. It costs a little more money, but I recommend sending it certified. You go to the post office and ask for it to be sent certified. You fill out a form with your contact information, and once the package is confirmed delivered, you will be notified. This gives you some peace of mind knowing that your package got to the right place.

I only did this once. USCIS will send you a receipt (in the mail only) once they’ve received your package anyway so feel free to send it by regular mail. If you send it by regular mail and you don’t receive a receipt within a few weeks, then you can follow up. I also trust the post office more than I probably should, so for you, dear reader, I recommend certified mail.

Finally, just take it slow, and proofread. Make sure you’ve got everything.

There is nothing worse than spending a lot of time to get everything together and sent just to get a rejection letter or otherwise held up because you forgot to sign something or you forgot to attach the check. Yes, it’s a lot of paperwork. Yes, it’s a lot of documents. With good planning, you should have plenty of time before you must get your paperwork in. Make sure you start early so you’re not running around last minute trying to get stuff before your visa runs out. Read those instructions again and again and check your lists and make sure you’ve sent everything. Once you’ve dropped the package off in the mail, kick back, relax, and wait for the next steps to arrive in the mail.

4 thoughts on “General Tips for Preparing USCIS Immigration Forms”

Eve Commented on: February 15, 2017

Hi there
I asked very simple questions and I got answers that scared me like getting a lawyer even though I am positive that me and my US citizen husband can get me to live in the US, so should I still be worried? Or can I just relax?

admin Post authorCommented on: May 15, 2018

Not enough information.

Christina Commented on: September 6, 2017

Hi, would you know if it’s okay to highlight my name on the supporting documents? Just curious.

Thanks!

admin Post authorCommented on: May 13, 2018

I haven’t heard the need to do so but I don’t believe it is against the rules.